Grammy Award-winning producer Don Was (pictured, left - alongside Tim McGraw, Chris Martin and Kid Rock) will host a new exclusive weekly show entitled The Motor City Hayride, on Sirius XM Radio Inc. starting this Saturday.

The Motor City Hayride will launch on August 29th at 10pm ET and will be rebroadcast on Sundays at 8am ET and Mondays at 10am ET, on Outlaw Country (Sirius channel 63 and XM channel 12).

Was - a Detroit native - will host Detroit-themed shows from various locations in his hometown. The first episode of The Motor City Hayride, will be broadcast from Campus Martius Park in downtown Detroit with local radio legend Nat Morris, the inspiration behind the show.

Future shows will feature interviews with the United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger in the lobby of the union's world headquarters; music legend Mitch Ryder on the streets of downtown Detroit; Detroit Tiger pitcher Nate Robertson from the team's dugout; best-selling author Elmore Leonard at the Eastern Market produce terminal; and City Council President Ken Cockrel Jr. at Northern Lights Cocktail Lounge.

"The Hayride will conjure up a unique jambalaya of Detroit civic pride and renegade country music," said Don Was. "We'll spin some cool records - some of which come from my personal stash of unreleased masters - and interview local notables who are keeping the city interesting and vibrant."

Was has produced records for The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson and Waylon Jennings. He is the recipient of multiple Grammy Awards, including the "Producer of the Year" Grammy in 1995. Was' recent producer projects include new releases from Americana artists Delbert McClinton, Todd Snider, Old Crow Medicine Show and Kris Kristofferson.

"We here at Outlaw are both thrilled and inebriated to finally get Don
off the streets and give him a real job," said 'Little Steven' Van
Zandt. "As part of our Motown Misfits program, he will be rehabilitated
and end up contributing something positive to society, just like our
other DJs, such as...uh...well... there's always a first time! And
that's our solemn vow!"

20 Comments

Well, given my nickname, it's obvious that I take some personal interest in this, as Outlaw is the "replacement" for X Country.

The X had lots of good shows that were low key but great, but it seems that everything Sirus does has to involve "name" people -- the kind who dish out the same crap you can hear all over the place. In contrast, a major plus of X Country was that its progressive format gave some exposure to people you couldn't hear anywhere else. And, another problem with Outlaw Country is that it is really a blend of stuff that belongs on Willie's Place and stuff that's not country music in the first place -- all in tight rotation, so you get to keep hearing the music you don't like over and over.

Finally, I've tried to listen, but I'm just really sick of the Outlaw shows, most of which feature a bunch of dumb inside jokes and have a definite "in group" focus that makes me feel like, as a listener, I'm eavesdropping on the idle meanderings of all of these wonderful people I should look up to, rather than the cool X Country approach, which was listener-centered, laid back, and unique.

I'll listen to this show and see what it's all about, but from what I see here, it sounds like it'll be well-placed on Outlaw, alongside all of the other self-absorbed bullcrap that makes the channel all but unlistenable.

While I'm not a country fan by any means, everything xcountry mentions is the same on all the rock channels. I used to put on the boneyard and that was it, never changed the channel. Now it's unlistenable. Hair Nation? The same Dokken/Whitesnake/Warrant songs over and over. Not to mention the DJ's. Just this morning I heard one babbling about Lita Ford and a new album. No one cares, not even the listeners of her music. I'd rather hear a commercial than 30 seconds of inane babbling.

I am indeed back to FM for music listening and have one XM sub left for O&A. FM has superior sound and playlists in my area.

Xcountry, you write some of the most dead-on, intelligent and unbiased postings. You're obviously a passionate and somewhat jilted SDARS subscriber like most of us. You just want the service to be what it could be and what it once was. I'm sure you'll get piled on from posters telling you to quit whining and get lost. One day these people will lose their favorite channel and/or programming and maybe they'll open their eyes then, when it's too late.

Same modus operendi that SiriusFM does for the comedy channels. Revolving door bits on "BlueDog" and just plain shit for the afternoon commute on "Rawdog"

Speaking of "Willie's Place" at noon, 20 minutes of yakking from that old fart and maybe 3 songs and some of them will be Creedence Clearwater,Marshall Tucker,etc. Great groups in their own right but ABSOLUTELY no place for them on a CLASSIC COUNTRY format.

A poster on another site said he called in to the noon show to complain how sorry the noon show was and the old dude was a dick on the air.

I'm sure that Don will do an interesting show, and quite likely he will be much more low-key, same as the old X-Country jocks were. Quite honestly, anything is better than what I've heard with the likes of Dallas, Mojo and the rest of those dudes.

Outlaw Country is too much a playup on the stereotype of a drooling hayseed redneck-rocker type of thing. It doesn't work, and the music mix is pathetic; sure, there's some good music still being played, but I am not impressed on the whole.

Thanks very much for the kind words. You're right, "jilted" is a good way to describe how I feel. I remember a long drive I had to take in the summer of '08, having X Country all the way made it great. It wasn't just the music, but the announcing, the pacing, hell, even the little IDs and slogans were cool. But, it's all gone now. On a similar trip this past summer, I listened almost exclusively to terrestrial FM and my own CDs. It's too bad when something good is replaced with garbage.

I respectfully disagree with the Sirius/XM formula of "celebrity X comes to channel Y to play whatever they want to play." I am more in line with "paying customer X turns on channel Y and hears thousands of their favorite songs, the ones THEY want to hear."

xcountry and Recondo72 keep hammering away at the same points over and over again, and every time I read their posts... I come away thinking that nobody is as tuned in to the bullshit that Sirius/XM has perpetrated on the subscribers as these two guys are. If everybody would stop being so goddamn complacent and show some outrage - and voice it on a daily basis - this company might FINALLY start to listen to the people who are paying their salaries. We are all being duped, scammed, and literally shunned by a bunch of souless corporate shitheads that DO NOT have our best interest as a priority. They have lied about reducing prices. Their customer care is nonexistent. They have ruined the very essence and destroyed the unique qualities that made satellite radio so appealing in the first place. They are arrogant, decietful, aloof and completely indifferent to the needs of the subscribers. Because of their SHIT ATTITUDE, they lose on all counts. They lose subscribers. They lose word of mouth advertising. They lose credibility on Wall Street and in the media. If I didn't have a lifetime sub, thay would lose me too.

Look at the "Cash For Clunkers" program. It was ill-concieved and not run well at all, but the response was enormous. Hell, just the perception that someone might give a damn about you gets people enthused and excited. I mean, for christ sakes.... they were running out of cars! If Sirius/XM got off their lard asses and showed even the slightest attention to the subscribers - and provided some real incentives to join the service - they would "suffer" the same fate as the car dealers; they would run out of radios!!!

The only thing preventing satellite radio from flourishing is the stupidity, selfishness, and total disdain they have for their very own CUSTOMERS. They are their own WORST ENEMY, and they deserve all of the trouble that they have created for themselves.

You may have a point, and I did qualify my original post by saying that it won't be possible truly to evaluate the show until hearing it. But, when I read the original article, as well comments such as the one posted by "You are all on crack!!!" that this is an "industry legend," this says to me that the flavor will be similar to what's already on Outlaw, which makes it a completely unsuitable replacement for X Country. The music offered on X Country was there, in many cases, precisely because the "industry legends" could not see its value and rejected it. Outlaw, on the other hand, is safe, boring, and corporate. What apparently makes for an "Outlaw feel," in Sirius' wisdom, is having DJs toss around the F-word.

I do respect the fact that many people probably like Outlaw Country, but I signed up for something I liked, and it's not there anymore -- and the "replacement" for it is not even close, which is true of many lost XM channels. The whole process of "combining" channels was ill-conceived, poorly executed, and just plain stupid.

When K Mart bought out Sears, they did not replace all of the Craftsman tools with "blue light special" discount stuff. The realized that there was a place for two product lines and two store chains to serve different markets. The same should have been recognized with Sirius and XM.

Absolutely on the same page! It burns my ass that this company seems hell bent on forever ignoring the wants and needs of its very lifeblood - the subscribers. All I want is what they promised all of us, "The Best Radio On Radio." These ass clowns have no passion, no integrity, and a bizarre aversion to common sense.

I have NEVER been in the broadcasting business just a lowly listener who remembers listening to the radio back in 1959 when I was 6 years old.

I am originally from the coalfields of Appalachia and we had one radio station for most of the county. It had to play EVERYTHING. Broadcasting was from sunup-sundown; country in early morning for miners going to work, Rock & Roll 7 - 9 am for us kids going to school,then Perry Como/Frank Sinatra/Dean Martin style stuff for the house wives then back to Rock & Roll for us kids coming back home from school 3 PM - signoff. That is why I USED to love XM's Classic Country so much. It brought back many fond memories and I am not a fan of contemporary country music. Then when I was in the Army at Ft. Bragg,NC in early 70's we had an UNBELIEVABLE "Underground FM" station out of Raleigh,NC(WQDR) that served the Triad college area(UNC,NC State,Duke,etc.) & us guys at Ft. Bragg/Pope AFB. That was the golden era of radio as far as I'm concerned. I compare radio to that standard and when XM started till the acquisition/merger I was in 7th heaven.

Unfortunately, you know how that has turned out.

I am no expert on broadcasting but I do have a minor in business and I can't believe how f**ked up Mel & his cohorts are and how they manage to keep people believing their bullshit. However to be fair & objective, I think the trouble started when XM & Sirius got involved in the stupid game of oneupmanship and got into a fisical downward spiral.

Face it, XM & Sirius subscribers are kinda like oil & water and that's just the way it is. Hell that is why there were TWO SatRad companies to choose from!!! The emulsion that Mel & Company have created in the mixing of the two by adding their brand of ionic adjuster(essentially HIGH STRENGTH commercial/terra based radio)is an INFERIOR product but they keep trying to sell the product like nearly expired salad dressing on the discount rack at your favorite supermarket or Big Lot store.

Rogue Calls won't come back because there never was and never will be any attempt to "merge" Outlaw and the X.

You may think you liked the programming you were getting before, but if so you're regarded by the people running this company as an ignorant schmuck or a hick who'll be just as happy with whatever they want to give you, because, being in the center of the entertainment universe, they instinctively know what everyone wants to hear.